System and method for managing resources in heterogeneous network

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a system and method for managing resources in a heterogeneous network, which includes a primary system and a secondary system and a communication coverage range of which is divided into a plurality of regions, the system including: a heterogeneous network resource management module configured to collect and manage resource usage status within a managed region; and a secondary system resource management module configured to acquire the resource usage status of each region from the heterogeneous network resource management module and to allocate resources to the secondary system by utilizing the acquired resource usage status of each region in accordance with a priority determined based on an efficiency of resource multiplexing between each region and the secondary system. According to the technical solution of the invention, the resource usage efficiency can be improved greatly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application of and claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 from U.S. Ser. No. 14/056,661, filed Oct. 17, 2013,which is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 13/642,638, filed Oct. 22, 2012,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, andwhich is a national stage of International Application No.PCT/CN11/73375, filed Apr. 27, 2011, which is based upon and claims thebenefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from prior filed Chinese PatentApplication No. 201010162518.7, filed Apr. 30, 2010.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology,and more particularly, to a system and method for managing resources ina heterogeneous network such as a heterogeneous radio access network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The global information network is evolving rapidly towards an IP-basedNGN (Next Generation Network) with the rapid development of computer andcommunication technology. Another important feature of the NextGeneration Network is that many kinds of radio technologies co-exist toform the heterogeneous radio access network. The heterogeneous radioaccess network has abundant meanings in terms of radio technology,coverage range, network architecture, network performance and the like,forming stereoscopic coverage in geographic distribution, thus tofunction together to provide a user with radio multi-media services withabundant contents wherever. In contrast, radio spectral resources usedby these access networks are rare.

In order to obtain effective utilization for the resources, limitedradio resources need to be multiplexed to the largest extent. It ispossible to achieve multiplexing of resources through covering the sameregion by multiple access networks to form the heterogeneous network;meanwhile, usage status for the spectral resources by each accessnetwork varies quickly with time and space, so that it is difficult tocontrol mutual interference among different access networks, thusobstructing efficiency of resource multiplexing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The brief summary of the invention will be given below to provide basicunderstanding of some aspects of the invention. However, it shall beappreciated that this summary is neither exhaustively descriptive of theinvention nor intended to define essential or important components orthe scope of the invention but is merely for the purpose of presentingsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form and hereby acts as apreamble of more detailed descriptions which will be presented later.

In view of the above circumstances of the existing technology, an objectof the invention is to provide a system and method for managingresources in a heterogeneous network such as a heterogeneous radioaccess network capable of effectively improving usage efficiency forresources such as radio spectral resources and the like.

To achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the invention,there is provided a system for managing resources in a heterogeneousnetwork, which includes a primary system and a secondary system and acommunication coverage range of which is divided into a plurality ofregions, the system including: a heterogeneous network resourcemanagement module configured to collect and manage resource usage statuswithin a managed region; and a secondary system resource managementmodule configured to acquire the resource usage status of each regionfrom the heterogeneous network resource management module, and toallocate resources to the secondary system by utilizing the acquiredresource usage status of each region in accordance with a prioritydetermined based on an efficiency of resource multiplexing between eachregion and the secondary system.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is further provideda method for managing resources in a heterogeneous network, whichincludes a primary system and a secondary system and a communicationcoverage range of which is divided into a plurality of regions, themethod including the following steps for each secondary system: aresource usage status acquisition step of acquiring resource usagestatus of each region; and a resource allocation step of allocatingresources by utilizing the acquired resource usage status of each regionin accordance with a priority determined based on an efficiency ofresource multiplexing between each region and the secondary system.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is further provideda computer program product for achieving the above method for managingresources in a heterogeneous network.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided acomputer-readable medium on which computer program codes for achievingthe above method for managing resources in a heterogeneous network arerecorded.

According to the above technical solutions of the invention, it ispossible to greatly improve resource usage efficiency by acquiring theresource usage status of each region and allocating resources to thesecondary system in accordance with the priority determined based on theefficiency of resource multiplexing between each region and thesecondary system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be better understood by referring to the detaileddescription given below with reference to the accompanying drawingsthroughout which identical or similar components are denoted byidentical or similar reference numbers. The drawings together with thefollowing detailed explanation are included in this specification andform part of the specification so as to further illustrate preferredembodiments of the invention by way of example and explain principlesand advantages of the invention. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heterogeneous radio accessnetwork;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of efficiency for multiplexing spectralresources between the primary system and the secondary system;

FIG. 3 shows a structural block diagram of a system for managingresources in the heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of arrangement location of aheterogeneous network resource management module according to a specificembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a structural block diagram of the heterogeneous networkresource management module according to the specific embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 6 shows a structural block diagram of a secondary system resourcemanagement module according to a specific embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of spectrum selection according to a specificembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 shows a flow chart of power control according to a specificembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary scene of allocating resources by the secondarysystem resource management module according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a method for managing resources in theheterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary structural block diagram of a computer inwhich the invention is implemented.

Those skilled in the art should understand that elements in the drawingsare merely shown for the purpose of simplicity and clarity but notnecessarily drawn to scales. For example, some elements in the drawingsmay be enlarged relative to other elements so as to improveunderstanding for the embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described belowin conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For the sake of clarityand conciseness, not all the features of practical implementations aredescribed in the specification. However, it is to be appreciated thatnumerous implementation-specific decisions shall be made duringdeveloping any of such practical implementations so as to achieve thedeveloper's specific goals, for example, to comply with system- andbusiness-related constraining conditions which will vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it shall also be appreciated thatsuch a development effort might be very complex and time-consuming butmay simply be a routine task for those skilled in the art benefitingfrom this disclosure.

It shall further be noted that only those device structures and/orprocessing steps closely relevant to the solutions of the invention areillustrated in the drawings while other details less relevant to theinvention are omitted so as not to obscure the invention due to thoseunnecessary details.

The invention will be described with the heterogeneous radio accessnetwork as an example below. However, it is clear to those skilled inthe art that the technical solution of the invention may be applicableto any resource management problems and fields in a multi-prioritysystem having similar restrictions as well.

Before the description of the technical solution of the invention,relevant knowledge about the heterogeneous radio access network will beintroduced first.

The heterogeneous radio access network includes many kinds of networks,which can be divided into a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Metropolitan AreaNetwork (MAN), a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Personal Area Network(PAN) from the view of coverage range; and divided into a Single-hopNetwork of Point-to-Multipoint, a Multi-hop Network, a Mesh Network, anAd Hoc and the like from the view of network architecture. Theheterogeneous network covering the same region can be divided into twotypes from the view of priority of occupying the spectral resources (asshown in FIG. 1), one is a primary system possessing absolute priorityof use authority for its operating frequency band and its user isreferred to a Primary User (PU);

the other is a secondary system, a signal range of which covers part orall of the primary system so that the primary system may be disturbed ifthe secondary system uses the same radio resource simultaneously withthe primary system, and the user of the secondary system is referred toa Secondary User (SU). A rule for sharing resources in the heterogeneousnetwork is that the secondary system can use free resources in thefrequency band of the primary system for data transfer only on a premiseof not affecting the primary system.

Those skilled in the art shall understand that there is no limitation onthe coverage range, the adopted radio technology, the networkarchitecture and the resource usage manners of the heterogeneous radioaccess network in the invention. The heterogeneous radio access networkto which the invention is directed realizes information interaction byinterconnecting in a wired or wireless manner.

The system for managing resources in the heterogeneous network such asthe heterogeneous radio access network according to the embodiment ofthe invention will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings below.

Within the coverage range of the primary system, degrees of mutualinterference are different when the primary users at different locationsand the secondary system use the same spectral resources simultaneouslydue to the distance, topographty and physiognomy, and the power controlstrategy, the smaller the interference being, the higher the efficiencyof resource multiplexing being. As shown in FIG. 2, there is given anefficiency diagram when multiplexing resources with the secondary systemwith a possible spectrum location distribution of the primary system,wherein each gray region and a secondary system white region belowmultiplex the same resources, the deeper the color of the gray regionbeing, the higher the efficiency of resource multiplexing being.

The invention devises an effective resource management system withconsideration of such characteristics of the heterogeneous radio accessnetwork, enables the secondary system to quickly acquire a list ofavailable resources with high multiplexing efficiency throughcooperation and further decides available power to reduce mutualinterference, thus achieving effective utilization of the resources.

FIG. 3 shows a structural block diagram of a resource management system300 according to the embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 3,the resource management system 300 mainly includes a heterogeneousnetwork resource management module 310 and a secondary system resourcemanagement module 320.

The heterogeneous network resource management module 310 may be used tocollect and manage resource usage status within the managed region andbe responsible for transmitting this information to the secondary systemresource management module 320 in the required secondary system. Thismodule has a flexible location in the heterogeneous network (see FIG.4):

-   -   It may be resided within a base station of the primary system        (see FIG. 4 a). In this situation, the heterogeneous network        resource management module 310 is responsible for collecting and        managing resource usage status over the whole cell under        coverage of a signal of the base station of the primary system.    -   It may be resided within the secondary system, and may be a        secondary system access point or a secondary user (see FIG. 4        b). In this situation, the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 is responsible for collecting and managing        resource usage status of the secondary system and surrounding        regions, ranges of the regions being able to be dynamically        adjusted as required.    -   It may be resided within a specialized heterogeneous network        resource management node (see FIG. 4 c). The node disperses        within a coverage range of a signal of the primary system and is        responsible for collecting and managing resource usage status of        its surrounding regions, ranges of the regions being able to be        dynamically adjusted as required.

FIG. 5 shows a structural block diagram of the heterogeneous networkresource management module 310 according to a specific embodiment of theinvention. It shall be illustrated herein that the structure of theheterogeneous network resource management module 310 as shown in FIG. 5is only exemplary, and those skilled in the art may modify thestructural block diagram as shown in FIG. 5 as required.

As shown in FIG. 5, the heterogeneous network resource management module310 may include a resource usage information collection sub-module 510,a resource usage status database 520 and a resource usage informationtransmission sub-module 530.

Particularly, the resource usage information collection sub-module 510may be used to collect the resource usage status within the managedregion, the resource usage status database 520 may be used to save theresource usage status collected by the resource usage informationcollection sub-module 510, and the resource usage informationtransmission sub-module 520 may be used to read the resource usagestatus saved in the resource usage status database 520 and transmit itto the secondary system resource management module 320. Thesesub-modules will be further explained below.

The Resource Usage Information Collection Sub-Module 510

The resource usage information collection sub-module 510 is responsiblefor collecting resource usage status within the managed region and thentransmits it to the resource usage status database 520. This collectionbehavior occurs periodically so that it is ensured that the resourcemanagement system information is updated timely. There are two kinds ofprocessing for the managed region:

-   -   If the heterogeneous network resource management module 310        resides within the base station of the primary system, the        managed region is the whole cell range covered by the base        station of the primary system. At this time, the managed region        needs to be divided so as to form a plurality of sub managed        regions. The sub managed region is generally divided        geographically. In particular, the sub managed region may be        divided according to the secondary system so that each region        contains one or more neighboring secondary systems.    -   If the heterogeneous network resource management module 310        resides within the secondary system or the heterogeneous network        resource management node, the managed region is a surrounding        region of this secondary system or the heterogeneous network        resource management node.

A manner for resource collection is classified as two kinds:

-   -   Interaction with the primary system: the primary system is in        charge of the resource usage conditions of respective primary        users (including the used frequency spectrums and the received        signal power, noise power). The resource usage status collection        sub-module 510 may acquire the required resource usage status        information through interaction with the base station of the        primary system. Such collection manner may be applicable to the        following situations: the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 residing within the base station of the        primary system; the heterogeneous network resource management        module 310 residing within the secondary system and the        secondary system and the primary system being able to perform        information interaction; and the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 residing within the heterogeneous network        resource management node and the heterogeneous network resource        management node and the primary system being able to perform        information interaction.    -   Measurement: the secondary system or the heterogeneous network        resource management node may acquire the resource usage        conditions of its managed region through measurement. At this        time, the access point or the secondary user of the secondary        system or the heterogeneous network resource management node        needs to have a function of spectrum sensing, in which the        required resource usage information is obtained through sensing        detection. Such collection manner does not require information        interaction between the secondary system or the heterogeneous        network resource management node and the primary system.

The Resource Usage Status Database 520

The resource usage status database 520 is responsible for storing andmaintaining the resource usage status within the managed region. Theresource usage status includes:

-   -   Spectral resources and status thereof (in operation/free) within        the managed region; (in which spectrums in a status of operation        represent the spectral resources being used to satisfy service        requirements of the primary user; and spectrums in a status of        free represent spectral resources allocated to this region with        priority when allocating resources or spectrums to be allocated        to the user in this region in next period)    -   Signal power of the spectral resources in the status of        operation used by the primary user;    -   Noise power corresponding to the spectral resources in the        status of operation

The Resource Usage Information Transmission Sub-Module 530

The resource usage information transmission sub-module 530 isresponsible for deciding a transmission target and a transmission pathfor the resource usage status information, and then completing afunction of reading required information from the resource usage statusdatabase 520 and transmitting the same.

If necessary, the resource usage information transmission sub-module 530may maintain two lists, that is, a secondary system routing informationlist and a secondary system priority information list.

-   -   The secondary system routing information list: holding the        routing information from the heterogeneous network resource        management module to each secondary system.    -   The secondary system priority information list: holding        priorities for usage of resources stored by the heterogeneous        network resource management module by respective secondary        systems. An object of defining this priority is to help the        secondary system classify the whole heterogeneous network system        resources, giving priority to consider the resources with high        priority to acquire available resources quickly. Therefore the        definition method for priority is that the higher the efficiency        of resource multiplexing between the region in which the        resource locates and the secondary system is, the higher the        priority that the secondary system uses the resource is; on the        contrary, the lower the efficiency of resource multiplexing is,        the lower the priority that the secondary system uses the        resource is. Particularly, the resources with the highest        priority further include frequency bands being in the status of        free among the spectrums of the primary system. When the        heterogeneous network resource management module 310 resides        within the base station of the primary system, the efficiency of        resource multiplexing may be estimated based on a distance        between each region and the secondary system, the larger the        distance being, the higher the efficiency of resource        multiplexing being; and when the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 resides within the secondary system        distributed among each region or within the specialized        heterogeneous network resource management node, the efficiency        of resource multiplexing may be estimated based on routing        information from the heterogeneous network resource management        module 310 to each secondary system, the further the route        being, the higher the efficiency of resource multiplexing being.

Returning back to FIG. 3, the secondary system resource managementmodule 320 may reside within each secondary system, and may be used toacquire resource usage status of each region from the heterogeneousnetwork resource management module 310 and allocate resources to thesecondary system by utilizing the acquired resource usage status of eachregion in accordance with the priority determined based on theefficiency of resource multiplexing between each region and thesecondary system, so as to satisfy the business requirements of thesecondary system.

FIG. 6 shows a structural block diagram of a secondary system resourcemanagement module 320 according to a specific embodiment of theinvention. It is to be illustrated herein that the structure of thesecondary system resource management module 320 as shown in FIG. 6 isonly exemplary, those skilled in the art may modify the structural blockdiagram as shown in FIG. 6 as required.

As shown in FIG. 6, the secondary system resource management module 320may include a resource usage information acquisition sub-module 610 anda secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620.

Particularly, the resource usage information acquisition sub-module 610may be used to acquire the resource usage status of each region from theheterogeneous network resource management module 310 and form the listof available resources, the list of available resources including asequence of resources available to the secondary system and prioritiesthat the secondary system uses these resources. The secondary systemresource allocation sub-module 620 may be used to allocate resources tothe secondary system utilizing the list of available resources. Thesesub-modules will be further explained below.

The Resource Usage Information Acquisition Sub-Module 610

The resource usage information acquisition sub-module 610 is responsiblefor acquiring the resource usage status of each region from theheterogeneous network resource management module 310. The information isacquired in two ways:

-   -   The information acquisition being initiated by the secondary        system resource management module 320: the secondary system        resource management module 320 transmits an information        acquisition request to the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310, and the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 acknowledges, transmits the requested        information if agrees and transmits a reply of denying        transmission if not.    -   The information transmission being initiated by the        heterogeneous network resource management module 310: the        heterogeneous network resource management module 310 transmits        an information transmission request to the secondary system        resource management module 320, and the secondary system        resource management module 320 acknowledges, transmits a reply        of agreeing reception to the heterogeneous network resource        management module 310 if agrees, then the heterogeneous network        resource management module 310 transmits corresponding        information to the secondary system resource management module        320, and if not, the secondary system resource management module        320 transmits a reply of denying reception to the heterogeneous        network resource management module 310.

The information usage information acquisition sub-module 610 forms thelist of available resources after receiving the resource usage statusinformation. The list contains a sequence of spectral resourcesavailable to the secondary system and priorities that the secondarysystem uses these spectral resources. Here, the priority information maybe obtained by querying a priority information list maintained locallyin accordance with regions in which the available spectral resourceslocate for example, in which the priority information list is similar tothe secondary system priority information list described above andstoring the priority that the current secondary system uses the resourceof each region, and the secondary system priority information listdescribed above is not necessary in this case. Alternatively, thepriority information may be for example acquired from the heterogeneousnetwork resource management module 310 together with the resource usagestatus information.

The Secondary System Resource Allocation Sub-Module 620

The secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620 is responsiblefor allocating resources to the secondary system by utilizing the listof available resources. The resource allocation mainly includes spectrumselection and/or power control which will be described respectivelybelow:

Spectrum Selection

The secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620 may selectavailable spectrums sequentially from the list of available resources inan order from high to low in terms of the priority. A specificimplementation flow will be given with reference to FIG. 7 below.

As shown in FIG. 7, first, in step S710, available spectrums areselected from the spectrums with the highest priority. The selectionmethod includes: direct use; obtaining a degree of mutual inference whenmultiplexing resources with the user of the region in which the spectrumlocates through estimation and determining whether to use the spectrumin accordance with the degree of interference; and determining whetherthe current usage status of the spectrum satisfies a multiplexingcondition through spectrum sensing.

Next, in step S720, it is judged whether the selected availablespectrums satisfy the business requirement of the secondary system orthere is no available spectral resource to be considered.

If the judging result in step S720 is “NO”, that is, the selectedavailable spectrums may not yet satisfy the business requirement of thesecondary system and there are still spectral resources to beconsidered, then in step S730, the available spectrums are selected fromthe spectrums with the next priority. The selection method is identicalto that in step S710. Next, the flow returns to step S720 and continuesto perform judgment.

On the other hand, if the judging result in step S720 is “YES”, that is,the selected available spectrums have been able to satisfy the businessrequirement of the secondary system or all the spectral resources havealready been considered, then the spectrum selection procedure ends.

A Back-Off Power Control Method in Accordance with Priority

The secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620 may performpower control on the selected spectrums using the following back-offpower control strategy in accordance with the priority, in which a powerlevel corresponding to the selected spectrum is selected in accordancewith the priority, the higher the priority being, the higher theselected power level being; and if it is detected that usage for thespectrum by the secondary system is subject to interference, the poweris reduced in accordance with the priority, the lower the prioritybeing, the greater an magnitude in power reduction being. Thus, whenmore than two secondary systems use the same spectral resourcecompetitively, a priority to use the spectral resource is given to thesecondary system which has a higher priority to use the spectralresource. A specific implementation flow will be given with reference toFIG. 8 below.

As shown in FIG. 8, first, in step S810, the power level correspondingto the selected spectrum is selected in accordance with the priority.The rule is that the higher the priority is, the higher the selectablepower level is; and the lower the priority is, the lower the selectablepower level is.

Next, in step S820, a signal-to-noise ratio of this spectrum is measuredand it is judged whether the signal-to-noise ratio is within anallowable use range. If the signal-to-noise ratio is within theallowable range, that is, higher than a certain threshold, it means thatthis frequency can be used normally and the power control procedureends; otherwise, it means that the interference is too great and theprocessing proceeds to step S830.

In step S830, it is judged whether the power can be continued to bereduced. If not, that is, there is no power level which is even lower,then the processing proceeds to step S860; otherwise, the processingproceeds to step S840.

In step S840, the power is reduced in accordance with the priority. Therule is that the higher the priority is, the smaller the magnitude inpower level reduction is and there is even no reduction; and the lowerthe priority is, the greater the magnitude in power level reduction is.

Next, in step S850, it is judged whether the signal-to-noise ratioincreases. If not, that is, there is no increase, then it means that theinterference noise mainly comes from the primary user, and theprocessing proceeds to step S860; otherwise, that is, if thesignal-to-noise increases, then it means that the interference noise iscaused by the other secondary system, and the processing proceeds tostep S820.

In step S860, this spectrum is stopped being used and other availablespectrums are selected from the spectrum selection result, then theprocessing returns to step S810 to restart the power control.

In order to better explain the resource allocation processing performedby the secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620, an exemplaryscene to which the present invention is applied will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 9 below.

In the exemplary scene in FIG. 9, one or more secondary systems aredistributed within the coverage range of the signal of the primarysystem, and these secondary systems are denoted as I, II, III and IVrespectively in FIG. 9 a. The primary system serves the primary userswithin the secondary system I and surrounding regions thereof, and theused spectral resources are written as A; serves the primary userswithin the secondary system II and surrounding regions thereof, and theused spectral resources are written as B; serves the primary userswithin the secondary system III and surrounding regions thereof, and theused spectral resources are written as C; and serves the primary userswithin the secondary system IV and surrounding regions thereof, and theused spectral resources are written as D. Further, in the exemplaryscene in FIG. 9, the priority information in the list of availableresources of each secondary system is estimated based on the routinginformation from each heterogeneous network resource management moduleresiding within each secondary system to the secondary system, in whichan initial priority of the information is set as 0, and the priority isincreased by 1 accordingly with the route being increased by one hop,the greater the value of the priority being, the higher thecorresponding priority being. Exemplary lists of available resources ofthe secondary systems IV, III, II and I are illustrated respectivelybelow, in which the column route is added for convenience of descriptionand can be omitted in practice:

TABLE 1 A list of available resources of the secondary system IVSpectral resource Route Priority A I->II->III->IV 3 B II->III->IV 2 CIII->IV 1 D IV 0

TABLE 2 A list of available resources of the secondary system IIISpectral resource Route Priority A I->II->III 2 B II->III 1 C III 0 DIV->III 1

TABLE 3 A list of available resources of the secondary system IISpectral resource Route Priority A I->II 1 B II 0 C III->II 1 DIV->III->II 2

TABLE 4 A list of available resources of the secondary system I Spectralresource Route Priority A I 0 B II->I 1 C III->II->I 2 D IV->III->II->I3

Thus, the secondary system resource allocation sub-module 620 of thesecondary system IV may select available spectrums A, B, C and Dsequentially in an order from high to low in terms of the priority. Thesecondary system resource allocation sub-module 620 of the secondarysystem III may select available spectrums A, B, D and C sequentially inan order from high to low in terms of the priority. The secondary systemresource allocation sub-module 620 of the secondary system II may selectavailable spectrums D, A, C and B sequentially in an order from high tolow in terms of the priority. The secondary system resource allocationsub-module 620 of the secondary system I may select available spectrumsD, C, B and A sequentially in an order from high to low in terms of thepriority.

For example, when the secondary system IV and the secondary system IIIselect the spectrum A simultaneously, the secondary system IV selectshigher power level than the secondary system III since the secondarysystem IV has a higher priority to use the spectrum A than the secondarysystem III, as shown in FIG. 9 b. Moreover, when there is mutualinterference between the use of spectrum A by the secondary system IVand the secondary system III as shown in FIG. 9 b, both the secondarysystem IV and the secondary system III will reduce the power of thespectrum A, and the magnitude in power reduction of the secondary systemIII is larger than that of the secondary system IV since the secondarysystem IV has a higher priority to use the spectrum A than the secondarysystem III, as shown in FIG. 9 c. After the power control describedabove, it is possible to enable the caused mutual interference betweenthe use of the spectrum A by the secondary system IV and the secondarysystem III to reach an allowable range, and to ensure that the secondarysystem IV has a higher priority to use the spectrum A than the secondarysystem III, as shown in FIG. 9 c.

The system for managing resources in the heterogeneous network accordingto the embodiment of the invention has been described in detail withreference to the drawings above. A method for managing resources in theheterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the invention willbe described with reference to the drawings below.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of the method for managing resources in theheterogeneous network according to the embodiment of the invention. Thisprocedure is performed for each secondary system.

As shown in FIG. 10, first, in step S1010, resource usage status of eachregion is acquired.

Next, in step S1020, the resource is allocated by utilizing the acquiredresource usage status of each region in accordance with a prioritydetermined based on an efficiency of resource multiplexing between eachregion and this secondary system.

Various alternative or preferable implementations of the method havebeen described in detail above, and no repeated explanation will be madeherein.

Basic principles of the invention have been described in combinationwith specific embodiments above, but it shall be noted that thoseskilled in the art can understand that all or any of steps or componentsof the method and device of the invention may be implemented byhardware, firmware, software or combinations thereof in any computingdevice (including a processor, a storage medium or the like) or anetwork of computing devices, which can be achieved by those skilled inthe art by utilizing their basic programming skills after reading thedescription of the invention.

Therefore, the object of the invention may also be achieved by running aprogram or a set of programs on any computing devices. The computingdevices may be well-known general-purpose devices. Therefore, the objectof the invention may also be achieved simply by providing a programproduct containing program codes implementing the method or device. Thatis, such a program product constitutes the invention, and a storagemedium storing such a program product also constitutes the invention.Obviously, the storage medium may be any well-known storage medium orany storage medium to be developed in the future.

In a case that the embodiments of the invention are implemented bysoftware and/or firmware, programs constituting the software areinstalled from a storage medium or a network into a computer with adedicated hardware structure, for example, a general-purpose computer1100 illustrated in FIG. 11, which can carry out various functions andthe like when installed with various programs.

In FIG. 11, a central processing unit (CPU) 1101 executes variousprocesses in accordance with a program stored in a read only memory(ROM) 1102 or a program loaded from a storage portion 1108 to a randomaccess memory (RAM) 1103. Data required for the CPU 1101 to executevarious processes and the like is also stored in the RAM 1103 asrequired. The CPU 1101, the ROM 1102 and the RAM 1103 are connected toone another via a bus 1104. An input/output interface 1105 is alsoconnected to the bus 1104.

The following components are connected to the input/output interface1105: an input portion 1106 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like;an output portion 1107 including a display such as a cathode ray tube(CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), and the like, a speaker and thelike; the storage portion 1108 including a hard disk or the like; and acommunication portion 1109 including a network interface card such as aLAN card, a modem, and the like. The communication portion 1109 performscommunication via the network such as Internet.

A drive 1110 is also connected to the input/output interface 1105 asrequired. A removable medium 1111, such as a magnetic disk, an opticaldisk, a magneto optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like, ismounted on the drive 1110 as required, so that a computer program readtherefrom is installed into the storage portion 1108 as required.

In a case that the above-described series of processes are implementedby the software, the program that constitutes the software is installedfrom the network such as the Internet or the storage medium such as theremovable medium 1111.

Those skilled in the art should understand that this storage medium isnot limited to the removable medium 1111 in which a program is storedand which is distributed separately from the device so as to provide theprogram to the user as shown in FIG. 11. Examples of the removablemedium 1111 include the magnetic disk (including floppy disk (registeredtrade mark)), the optical disk (including compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM) and digital versatile disk (DVD)), the magneto optical disk(including mini disk (MD) (registered trade mark)) and the semiconductormemory. Alternatively, the storage medium may be the ROM 1102, the harddisk contained in the storage portion 1108 or the like, in which aprogram is stored and which is distributed to the user together with thedevice containing it.

It shall also be noted that obviously each component or each step may bedecomposed and/or recombined in the device and method of the presentinvention. These decompositions and/or re-combinations shall beconsidered as equivalent schemes of the present invention. Also, thesteps of performing the above series of processes may be naturallyperformed chronologically in an order of description but notnecessarily. Some steps may be performed in parallel or independentlyfrom one another.

Although the invention and advantages thereof have been described indetail herein, it shall be understood that various changes, replacementsand modifications may be made by one skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention defined by theappended claims. Furthermore, the terms “comprise”, “include” or anyother variation thereof are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion,so that a process, method, article, or device that comprises a list ofelements includes not only those elements but also other elements notexplicitly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, ordevice. Unless further defined, a sentence “comprises a/an . . . ” whichdefines an element does not preclude the existence of additionalidentical element(s) in the process, method, article, or device thatcomprises the element.

1-18. (canceled)
 19. A system for managing a communication resource in aheterogeneous network comprising a primary system and a plurality ofsecondary systems, the system comprising: circuitry configured to:determine, respectively, priorities of a first secondary system and asecond secondary system of the plurality of secondary systems for usingthe communication resource; and allocate the communication resource tothe first secondary system prior to the second secondary system, whichis of priority lower than the first secondary system, in response torequests of the communication resource from the first and secondsecondary systems.
 20. The system according to claim 19, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to allocate the communication resourceto the second secondary system based on a resource headroom above thecommunication resource allocated to the first secondary system.
 21. Thesystem according to claim 20, wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to allocate a frequency spectrum and/or a transmission poweras the communication resource.
 22. The system according to claim 21,wherein the circuitry is further configured to allocate transmissionpower at a first level and a second level, respectively, to the firstand second secondary systems, wherein the first level is higher than thesecond level.
 23. The system according to claim 19, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to determine whether a signal quality ofthe communication resource reaches a threshold for the first secondarysystem to use, and to allocate the communication resource to the firstsecondary system based on the signal quality.
 24. The system accordingto claim 20, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determinewhether a signal quality of the communication resource reaches athreshold for the first secondary system to use, and to adjust thecommunication resource allocated to the second secondary system in acase that the signal quality is lower than the threshold.
 25. The systemaccording to claim 24, wherein the circuitry is further configured torespectively adjust the communication resource allocated to the firstsecondary system and the second secondary system based on the respectivepriorities of the first and second secondary systems in case that thesignal quality is lower than the threshold.
 26. The system according toclaim 19, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine,respectively, the priorities of the first secondary system and thesecond secondary system for using the communication resource based on anefficiency of resource multiplexing between a managed region of thesystem and one of first or second secondary systems, wherein thecommunication resource is for the managed region and the efficiency ofresource multiplexing is estimated based on an interference between themanaged region and the one of the first or second secondary systems, theinterference and the efficiency being inversely proportional.
 27. Thesystem according to claim 26, wherein the managed region is a regionwhere the primary system is located or a region where the other of thefirst or second secondary system is located.
 28. The system according toclaim 26, wherein the interference between the managed region and theone of the first or second secondary system is determined based on adistance between the managed region and the one of the first or secondsecondary system, the greater the distance being, the distance and theinterference being inversely proportional, and the distance and theefficiency being proportional.
 29. A method for managing communicationresource in a heterogeneous network which comprising a primary systemand a plurality of secondary systems, the method comprising:determining, using circuitry, respectively, priorities of a firstsecondary system and a second secondary system of the plurality ofsecondary systems for using the communication resource; and allocatingthe communication resource to the first secondary system prior to thesecond secondary system, which is of priority lower than the firstsecondary system, in response to requests of the communication resourcefrom the first and second secondary systems.
 30. The method according toclaim 29, wherein said allocating the communication resource furthercomprises allocating communication resource to the second secondarysystem based on resource headroom above the communication resourceallocated to the first secondary system.
 31. The method according toclaim 30, wherein said allocating the communication resource furthercomprises allocating a frequency spectrum and/or a transmission power asthe communication resource.
 32. The method according to claim 31,wherein said allocating the communication resource further comprisesallocating transmission power, respectively, at a first level and asecond level to the first and second secondary systems, wherein thefirst level is higher than the second level.
 33. The method according toclaim 29, wherein the method further comprises determining whether asignal quality of the communication resource reaches a threshold for thefirst secondary system to use, and said allocating the communicationresource further comprises allocating the communication resource to thefirst secondary system based on the signal quality.
 34. The methodaccording to claim 30, wherein the method further comprises determiningwhether a signal quality of the communication resource reaches athreshold for the first secondary system to use, and adjusting thecommunication resource allocated to the second secondary system in acase that the signal quality is lower than the threshold.
 35. The methodaccording to claim 34, wherein said adjusting the communication resourcecomprises respectively adjusting the communication resource allocated tothe first secondary system and the second secondary system based on therespective priorities of the first and second secondary systems in casethat the signal quality is lower than the threshold.
 36. The methodaccording to claim 29, wherein the method further comprises determining,respectively, the priorities of the first secondary system and thesecond secondary system for using the communication resource based on anefficiency of resource multiplexing between a managed region of thesystem and the one of the first or second secondary system, wherein thecommunication resource is for the managed region and the efficiency ofresource multiplexing is estimated based on an interference between themanaged region and the one of the first or second secondary system, theinterference and the efficiency being inversely proportional.
 37. Themethod according to claim 36, wherein the interference between themanaged region and the one of the first or second secondary system isdetermined based on a distance between the managed region and the one ofthe first or second secondary system, the distance and the interferencebeing inversely proportional, and the distance and the efficiency beingproportional.
 38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium includingexecutable instructions, which when executed by a computer cause thecomputer to execute a method for managing communication resource in aheterogeneous network comprising a primary system and a plurality ofsecondary systems, the method comprising: determining, respectively,priorities of a first secondary system and a second secondary system ofthe plurality of secondary systems for using the communication resource;and allocating the communication resource to the first secondary systemprior to the second secondary system, which is of priority lower thanthe first secondary system, in response to requests of the communicationresource from the first and second secondary systems.